KANSAS CITY -- Rays starter Drew Rasmussen said it best after Wednesday's win.
“It’s hard to complain right now.”
With 81 games down and 81 to go, Tampa Bay is surging towards a potential playoff spot at their season’s midway point, punctuated by their fifth sweep of the season with a 4-0 win over the Royals on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium.
Here’s a look at where the Rays stand, and what has been going right:
Rise up the standings
Tampa Bay’s first half story has really been told in the past 34 games. After dropping five games (21-26) under .500 on May 19, the Rays have rattled off a 25-9 run to flip the season outlook in just over a month.
And they’ve done it against impressive opponents. The Rays have won series against the Tigers, Mets (sweep), Astros, Blue Jays, Rangers, Twins and Royals -- all clubs with playoff aspirations.
“I think our momentum has been built now over about a month,” said manager Kevin Cash. “We’ve done a lot of really good things, and I know the guys are eager to see it continue,”
Now, the Rays are in a prime position to add at the Trade Deadline, though where exactly the club looks to improve may depend on rehabbing veterans Ha-Seong Kim and Shane McClanahan, in addition to Chandler Simpson’s second go in the Major Leagues.
Tampa Bay (46-35) sits just a half-game behind the Yankees for first place in the AL East after trailing the division by as many as seven games on May 28 -- and are only 4.5 games back of Detroit (51-31), which has the best record in the big leagues.
“Just proud of the resilience in this room,” said Ryan Pepiot pregame Thursday. “Knowing that we came in with some lofty expectations and some lofty goals for this year, because we didn’t like how last season ended. It didn’t start the way we wanted to, but to turn things around … being [11] games over .500, I like where we are at.”
So, how did they do it?
Breaking out the bats
The emergence of Jonathan Aranda (.329 average, .898 OPS) and the consistency of Yandy Díaz (entered with a .476 average in his past 14 games) atop the lineup has fueled an offense that has been able to score in a variety of ways.
Take this series in Kansas City as the latest example. The Rays scored three runs Wednesday in the second inning despite just one ball reaching the outfield thanks to run-scoring bunts by José Caballero and Danny Jansen. Then, the next day, Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero blasted back-to-back homers to lead off the sixth.
“It’s a fun group to be with and a fun team to play with right now just because there is so many ways to do damage and there’s so much fun to be had,” said Lowe.
Entering the series finale, the Rays led the Major Leagues since May 20 in runs per game (5.97), batting average (.281), on-base percentage (.351), slugging (.462), OPS (.813), RBIs (184), stolen bases (43) and were tied for first in extra-base hits (110).
“I feel like all year, even at the beginning when we weren’t winning games, I think we were playing good baseball,” said Taylor Walls pregame. “We were getting opportunities to drive guys in. It seems like later, at least more than before, we’re actually getting the hits when those guys are on base.”
Dealing night in, night out
The production at the plate has also made its way to the mound, with the Rays topping the Majors in ERA (3.00), WHIP (1.10), runs allowed (3.33), opponent average (.220) and run differential (+87) since May 20 entering Thursday.
That was also on display again in Kansas City, with Taj Bradley getting it started with 6 2/3 scoreless frames Tuesday before Rasmussen (five scoreless) and Shane Baz (career-high eight scoreless) finished off a three-game set in which the Royals were held to just one run.
“It speaks to what we can do,” said Baz. “I think we do a good job of helping each other and asking questions to each other and just holding each other accountable and bringing the best out of everybody. I think it’s just such a good group. Really, I’m lucky to be a part of it.”
And that’s in addition to a bullpen that entered the finale with the fourth-best ERA (3.31) in the big leagues behind the strong starts of Pete Fairbanks (15 saves), Garrett Cleavinger (2.64 ERA) and Eric Orze (1.91 ERA).
That combination of a high-powered offense and dominant pitching has resulted in one of the hottest winning streaks in baseball this season, a plan that was set in motion months ago -- becoming a true team.
“We preached a lot, even in the offseason coming into this year, how can we get closer as a team?” said Josh Lowe. “Just to play together and play as a team, I feel like we lost that a little bit last year. But we’ve been doing a tremendous job of that all year long, just picking each other up, feeding off each other’s energy. I think it took a little bit, maybe there in the first part of the year to get to that point, but now here we are and it’s just showing what we can do on the field.”